Hey guys, I'm finally going to get to hit up the OWC over Christmas break, and I'd like to go in there looking slightly above the level of stupid, somewhere around noob (even though those words are synonymous). I've hit sliders before, but never landed successfully off the end, and I've never hit a kicker, any tips on how to do that stuff?

What foot forward are you?... the tampa one is awesome to learn on if you are left and new to cables

1. make sure you take corners really wide.... they have little floats to guide you, go to the outside one 2. do not get intimidated, there will be 12 year old girls killing it, its normal 3. do not ride straight up to a jump/rail ... cut at them 4. keep your weight on your heels but over the balls of your feet (pressure on heels - but do not lean back)

What days will you be in Florida? I'm getting down there 26th~ and we'll have a boat if you want to ride that... I'll be in Winter Haven which is like ~40 min south of Orlando

We're heading back the 26th, go figure. Just heading down for the first week of my break and then heading back to work my ass off so I can pay off my credit card and try to afford some limited watsons...

I ride regular.

Also, I'm completely cool with the 12 year old girls killing it. I can proudly admit that I suck at wakeboarding, but it's okay.

If you have a few days you may want to make the drive to McCormick's Ski school - their cable is clockwise so better for left foot forward... they only have a few kickers and 1 big box...but since it goes around so you take corners on your heels air tricks are WAAAY easier to learn

Family trip to florida in small cars for the win. Nick, you're only like, 4 hours north of me though.

Then again, with 3 possible drivers (my sister's license just got suspended), it's not really going to be classified as a tough drive to do in a day. I may be able to push my work schedule back a day and then stay for the day of the 26th Nick, in which case I may try to look you up.

Also, I'm not terribly worried about air tricks. I pretty much just want to try to land a 3 off of a kicker. I almost had it behind the boat, but kept giving up on the handle instead of following through, so I'd make the spin, but land without the handle. I figure a few more shots at it would yield a landing, but I just am not sure if I'll hit the kicker properly.

With gas like it is, a trip down to a different cable may be possible, but I think the trip is just going to be geared more towards Orlando, hence going to the OWC.

why dont we just start a thread for people named nick on this site? shrein, you cant be worse than me on the rail... i couldnt get on the dang box without fallin. but the guys at TSR were givin me props for tryin like 30 times. its fun though.

Cable is fun, rode it for the first time over thanksgiving. Be ready for your upper body to be sore though! Much different pull than a boat like I'm used to. Took me a couple laps to get the hang of the corners and basic sliders, but after an hour or two its a blast! And also, you can't make yourself look worse than I did falling flat on my face 3 times learning the jumping dock start

I bet I could. What are the other options for starts? Beyond jumping? Can you do a sitting one? Cause I don't feel like wasting my time doing a jumping one, even if it is easy once you figure out the timing.

Ya, most cable parks have a bench at the start and you can either start standing on the bench or sitting on the bench. The one down here in tampa also has the option to stand on a extended part of the dock lower than the bench or sitting with you legs in the water on that extended part.

With the $1.50 or less a gallon of gas down here you should go to Mccormicks cable park in tampa one day. It will be less packed than OWC everyone is really nice and THEY HAVE A FIRE PIT NEXT TO THE CABLE TO KEEP WARM!!!!!

Okay, as long as I don't have to deal with timing. I'd go a little bit crazy. Just a little bit.

I'm incredibly pumped about this trip.

Annoyingly, the caffeine among other things that I have taken to make me focus on working on math has really only translated into making me focus on wakeworld, as evidenced by my 500 posts in the last couple of hours.

Oh that's another thing, Tampa has the first easy start in the country. It's a cable that goes straight for about 100 feet and then brings you back just to get you the feel of the cable if you have never done it before. I use to run that and could get you ready for the big cable in no time.

Is it anything like having a winch tow you from a point 15 feet above your head? If so, score. If not, damn.

Sorry for all the questions. I'm really hoping to just not suck riding for the first time since thanksgiving day. I'm worried about it somewhat cause I'll be using my covenant cause I don't want to void the warranty on either my watson or my lyman.... I mean, I've ridden the covenant on the wake, but my toes tend to drag in the water just cause my feet are so darn big, only exceptionally mellow edging fixes that problem.

I just visited McCormick's this evening.. Didnt have my board with me today but I still wanted to check it out. Their cable system looks awesome and the starting cable set-up is really cool.. This was the first cable Ive seen that runs CLOCKWISE and they said there are only like 4 in the world that do..Like others have said, everyone there was SUPER SUPER nice and I definitely recommend checking them out.

They have 3 kickers and a sweet box and are in the process of building around a 100ft A-frame. Mike (McCormick) said it would be finished when they open back up Wednesday morning.. They had the posts driven and that thing is gonna be a beast!!!

Nick Shrein.. as I said in our emails.. you and your buddies are welcome anytime to come and session my rails. The water is a bit chilly now(46F) but it can be managed in a full.

Yeah dude, we may not make it down this winter, but come spring break, we're looking at taking a road trip down to florida with the winch, a boat, and maybe the possibility of hitting up O-dub at the end of the trip.

With any luck, I may be able to talk my parents into going to both, just so I can hit both of them up, that would be awesome. A week with nothing really planned out would make it perfect to go to both.

Nick, on the advanced cable as soon as the hook goes around the corner start to turn your board. The first few turns are not bad but when you get passed the kickers the next 2 turns WILL own you if you are not careful. Even if you swing wide in turn 4 (There are 5 turns)if you don't get the board turned you are going on your face. After the hard heel side cut you have to cut toe side hard to make the buoy for the last corner (Then again maybe it's just me)

Hey David, I just found to come up to the corner nice and relaxed, then pull your arms in so that when the cable yanks you it just lets your arms out instead of pulling you over. Works for me regular (switch) and goofy. The first 3 turns down the far end right before the A frame I find it fun to cut out as soon as the cable hits the turn and then when you go around you pick up some sweet speed and momentum to bust out big ol grabbed ollie 180s.

okay, so cut out real hard on the corners to avoid face planting. Got it.

Edge towards kickers and sliders, and don't just ride up.

So far, I already have nothing but good things to say about the people at the OWC. There was a screwup with an order from buywake for a heater top that I got for this trip (yeah, I feel like being a wimp, also, the wakenskate never seems to have anything my size in stock), and so the buywake is going to send it out to the park and I'll just be picking it up there and sending the one that I received initially back from there. Which means that I have good things to say about two big players in the wake community.

ok, you do need to edge toward the kickers and sliders, but make sure you back off before you actually hit them!! really important! You want your board to be in a completely neutral position as you ride up them. If you try edging on a kicker or slider I can guarantee you'll end up on your ass! so, start in the middle, do a nice smooth cut out to the rail (or whatever), then back off just before the up-ramp, and ride up it in neutral. keep your knees really soft, and your centre of gravity nice and low. you should be fine!

Nick, based on the riding ability shown in your profile pic, you don't need to worry about the cable being difficult. Even the corners are simple unless you are on a slalom ski. The first time I took the last corner on the big cable at OWC on a slalom ski I literally went flying face first right out of my boots.

Alice is right about being neutral when you hit the ramp. The surface material is very slick and you definitely don't want to be leaning back.

If you are nervous about riding in front of everybody start on the beginners cable. They have 2 kickers alongside each other so you can hit them heel or toeside. They are close to the start dock as well so if you fall you won't have a long walk back.

Oh, I have no qualms about eating it in front of people. Just wanted to see if anyone had any tips for hitting stuff. I was destroyed by the kicker that was at a rail jam I went to over the summer, although that was mostly because when you hit it it would turn and tilt and bounce and then you just kind of dropped off of the end of it.

At the same rail jam I hit a fun box with my weight on my heels and wound up falling off the side of the box backwards. Another time I was too far forward and fell onto it, and rolled/slid the last ten feet. Everyone there freaked out and thought I broke ribs or something, I don't know. It was hilarious when I popped back up out of the water cause people were still gasping and I was laughing....

I also went in too heel heavy on a slider near my house and wound up riding 15 feet of it on my ass. Awesome stuff....

But I will probably use the beginners cable first just cause I plan on trying backside 180's off of the kicker and don't feel like trying to take it remotely big.

I shoulda asked the same question before I went last year...here are my tips (for OWC) 1.) Do a sitting start. You accelerate super fast on the start. I tried a jumping one and got yanked onto my face. Im good at dockstarts behind a boat too. If you do a sitting start, its more manageable. Just lean back as much as friggin possible and make sure your nose stays above water. 2.) Corners. Most are really easy, but the last two can F you up! (2nd to last f'ed me up). Definitely cut to the outside, when the cable changes, then you can get back on your heel edge. If you get slack, you can get screwed. I tried to tough it out and I got jerked into a ridiculous whip...I was on a very slippery finless board so I started opening up then caught my front edge and scorpioned hardcore. 3. For what to hit...the up to flat box is a cinch, just cut at it, flatten off right as you get to it and keep your knees loose. I love the cheese wedge (I think Im the only one). Just charge at it and keep your knees super loose. Youll smack it and be lanuched into the air in the blink of an eye. Dont worry about "riding up it." Big white isnt too bad, just cut to meet it but really make sure you flatten out as you hit it. I kept trying to edge (subconsciously) while on the kicker (because its so long compared to the wedge) so I kept slipping out. Just keep the board perfectly flat while on the ramp. The other stuff is pretty much the same.

I made it over the box one solid time, and I made it over the bi-level wedge three times. The crappy mini ramps on the beginners lake were way too easy. After that, ollieing into grabs and doing 180's got really, really, really boring.

I did see Adam Fields, Anna Hajek, Nicola Butler and a few other riders that I didn't recognize but I know are decently big. Also, there were these like, 11-13 year old boys there at the end of the day just completely throwing down. It was just like, wow.

My back hurts. I only ate it on a corner once. And it was like, halfway through the day. I cut out too far on the beginner lake like jackass at the far end and the line just like, instantly slacked and I had time to think "Oh SHIZAT!" Right before digging my face into the water.

Ouch. I went out for a boat set yesterday, and just got my ass handed to me by that wake. After having a really good set behind my deckboat on thanksgiving where I landed all of my 180's, I figured hey, I could take a set. I was hoping to get to try 3s again in the time, but nope, did absotively posolutely terribly. Only stuck two semi-decently poked heelside grabs and a toeside indy. I couldn't ride worth a crap. And then right afterwards, Nicola and Anna both showed up for the second half of the worst set of my life. Terrible terrible things. I would just like to apologize to those two for possibly having eaten into their riding time with my terrible set.